The Myth of the Religion of Peace Threatens Western Civilization

Islam is not a religion of peace and dealing with Islamic cultures as if it is will never bring about peace. The deadly riots in Afghanistan, supposedly caused by the burning of Korans that Muslims themselves were already defacing with secret messages, prove that Islam in its current unreformed state is a nihilistic, dishonest death cult. Worse, Islamism of this sort is encouraged by fickle, bloodless Western powers who are only too eager to accept behavior that even the Muslim actors themselves know is outrageous.

This is not to say there aren’t Muslims who want to live peaceful, modern lives. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser has long spoken out for reformation of Islam and promoted a Western vision for Muslim life that includes becoming tolerant and productive citizens. The Ahmadi Muslim sect has long preached against jihadism and promoted love and kindness for non-Muslims. Of course, the Ahmadis are the victims of a worldwide campaign of genocide and even conservatives marginalize Dr. Jasser at the behest of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated “conservative activists” who claim there can be peace between Militant Islam and the West.

This is a lie and acceptance of this lie endangers our way of life.

Militant Islam does not want peace between between Muslims and non-Muslims. The theology of every major Islamic school school of jurisprudence, sect and organization calls for eternal war between Muslim lands, the so-called house of Islam, and non-Muslim lands which Muslims still refer to as the house of war.

Is this the “peace” we envision with Muslims in the future? Is our submission to their outrageous and often random demands encouraging peace or violence? Let’s be clear, none of these Muslims care about Korans being defaced or destroyed. If they did, Korans would not be given to suicide bombers and other terrorists who know they’re going to be shot, blown up, or set alight in combat. They certainly don’t riot when Taliban or Al-Qaeda operatives write secret messages in Korans, which by their standards defaces them. These riots are not about Korans, they’re about Muslims having power over the West. The Koran burning is a pretext to force us to publicly submit to Muslims, which will encourage more Muslims to more violence.

Islam apologists like to tell you the word Islam means peace, but it doesn’t. It means submission and current Muslim theology encourages believers to wage war on the world until we submit to Islamic law, sharia. Muslims are promised “booty” and other rewards for helping the cause of Islamic imperialism and Muslim societies, even those enclaves in the West, are arranged to promote and defend criminality like rape, sexual slavery, and even murder as long as it targets non-believers. There have been no apologies to the West (or the Ahmadi, the Armenians, the Ottoman Greeks, etc) for these atrocities. Just recently Afghan police intercepted a convoy of 41 Afghan children headed off to suicide bombing training camps. This news caused no riots and there was no demand for an apology from the Taliban.

Because they don’t care. Muslim aggrievement is selective and aimed at getting concessions from the West. Money, the honor of shaming a Western power, support for their corrupt regimes–this is what Muslims envision as peace with the West. Modernity and partnerships based on mutual respect–true peace–is not only discouraged by Muslims, but those few Muslims who want those things are slandered and murdered. Westerners do not have the ability to understand why the Muslim world engages in such self-destructive behavior because we see those behaviors as running contrary to the tenets of a peaceful religion.

But when you understand that Islam is a religion of submission, of imperialism, then you see the logic behind the constant provocations and the danger of giving into Muslim demands. When I was receiving my degree in comparative religion I read Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade and was taught that myths matter. Western Civilization’s myths and heroes, from the heroic Greeks to the Arthurian romances to the cowboys of the old West, all sit along a continuum of Western values that have shaped our adherence to certain virtues. We hold honesty in esteem, and mercy. We believe strength comes not just from force of arms, but moral conviction. And we believe in justice and freedom for all people. Even when Western societies have fallen short, our myths, our legends, and our theologies promoted our ideals.

Islamic myth does not promote those virtues. The hero of the Koran is a warlord (and coward) who had a poetess murdered while she breastfed her child, committed genocide, raped captured women, and took child brides. He is Mohammed, the perfect man according to Islamic lore and he often used pretexts to initiate violent massacres of people who had wealth and land he wanted for his new faith. Whereas Western Tradition has always envisioned the “perfect” man to harm none and deal with others with a sense of honor, fairness, and faith, Islamic doctrine rejects those values and instead teaches adherents that no offense against others is unacceptable as long as it’s done, at least in theory, in the name of spreading Islam.

Little wonder then that the Afghans care little for the abuse of their children but riot when books are burned, even though those books were already defaced by Muslims. Perhaps Karzai, knowing we intend to withdraw, seeks a faster more chaotic exit of American forces that would necessarily leave behind millions of dollars in equipment. The Afghan people, encouraged by America’s weakness in the face of Islamic demands, have waited for a pretext to rampage and loot the riches our military and State Department operations have brought to Afghanistan. In a typical leftist spin, a Reuters report claimed armed protesters “took refuge” in local shops. As with the “foragers” of Hurricane Katrina, the media seem intent on hiding the looting and theft (the real driving motivators of the riots) from the public.

Islamists will use any excuse to loot, steal, rape, or murder. It is a myth that Islam, in its current unreformed state, is a religion of peace and accepting that myth prevents the West from effectively dealing with the threat Islamic imperialism poses to American security. It’s time we started dealing with Muslim countries from a position of strength and stopped showing them our weakness through appeasement and apologies. Islamic culture does not respect weakness and these murderous riots and extraordinary demands that we execute our own soldiers for burning a book proves we are seen as weak. The weak can find no peace with Islam, only slavery and death.